Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services.

3 Big Impacts From Obamacare on America's Largest Health Insurers

In the wake of UnitedHealth's announcement that Obamacare could take a bite out of its earnings next year, here are three big ways that Obamacare could make waves -- for better and for worse -- in the insurance industry in 2014

The launch of Obamacare in October has shaken up American health care in a big way. From the expansion of Medicaid to cuts to Medicare and insurers playing cautious with state health-care exchanges, the past few months have seen a major transformation of this sector -- and there's no industry feeling the effects of Obamacare like the health insurance industry.

UnitedHealth Group(NYSE:UNH), America's largest publicly traded insurer, announced earlier this week that the rollout of Obamacare in 2014 could end up costing the insurer up to $1 in full-year net earnings per share. Ouch! That's a hefty blow to UnitedHealth's forecast, and it's cuts to Medicare that have taken an especially big bite out of that downbeat outlook.

But what can UnitedHealth's look ahead tell investors about how Obamacare will impact this industry's biggest stocks? Find out in the video below, where Motley Fool contributor Dan Carroll explains how some of health insurance's biggest names, from WellPoint(NYSE:ANTM) to Humana(NYSE:HUM), could see major impacts from the new health-care law's changes to Americans' coverage.